I think the "one time use" thing was more a technical aspect of the coupon... When you got it and printed it out, you couldn't open it up again to print another. Someone found a way around that though, obviously, and shared it with the world. (Yay for them by the way)

That's where the "one time use" deal came in... It technically was something the 85,000 people were to get, print, and never be able to print out again, but they'd at least have the original to go use. There's obviously ways around that though and people used them. It is, without a doubt, all Target's fault... The "removing 'toy' from the coupon" thing though that was going on, was what seemingly ultimately screwed the pooch on this one, and so that is annoying. Target may have been able to take greater steps to stop that from happening, but ultimately it was people doing that who seem to have stopped all the fun for the rest of us... Unless of course Target would've caught on that people were using the coupon a ton, and ultimately cancelled the whole program anyway. I'd love to know if that would've been the case, or if they simply would've just let the good times roll as long as it was used on toys?

I think the "one time use" thing was more a technical aspect of the coupon... When you got it and printed it out, you couldn't open it up again to print another. Someone found a way around that though, obviously, and shared it with the world. (Yay for them by the way)

That's where the "one time use" deal came in... It technically was something the 85,000 people were to get, print, and never be able to print out again, but they'd at least have the original to go use. There's obviously ways around that though and people used them. It is, without a doubt, all Target's fault... The "removing 'toy' from the coupon" thing though that was going on, was what seemingly ultimately screwed the pooch on this one, and so that is annoying. Target may have been able to take greater steps to stop that from happening, but ultimately it was people doing that who seem to have stopped all the fun for the rest of us... Unless of course Target would've caught on that people were using the coupon a ton, and ultimately cancelled the whole program anyway. I'd love to know if that would've been the case, or if they simply would've just let the good times roll as long as it was used on toys?

Well, I guess I disagree with a lot of you on this.

#1 - anyone that thought this coupon was just randomly thrown out there for everyone to use as many times as they wanted is pretty niave in my book. Pretty much any coupon that reprinted in the forums was not meant to be delivered to a broad audience and certainly something that offers $5 off a $25 purchase is not intended to go to millions of homes for multiple uses. People can claim to have not known the details, but I'm betting most people at least suspected they were getting a deal that they really shouldn't be getting.

#2 - I can't believe people think that it was the use of this coupon for non-toys or the actual change in wording of the coupon that caused the coupon to be discontinued. I used this coupon a lot and sometimes not on toys, but each of the coupons said "toy purchase" on it. I never had a cashier refuse it - they just scan the UPC and if it works, it works. Changing the wording on the coupon is a scapegoat for Target - a reason for them to cancel it without admitting their own fault in the process. Companies need to plan for any kind of coupon in their budget, so if more are redemmed than estimated, they go over budget. I can guarantee you that if they really only intended this to go to 85k people, they didn't budget for anywhere near 85k of them to be used and they obviously started getting in excess of this number rapidly, so they shut it down.

Maybe I'm just too sensitive this week, but I find it shocking how many people are trying to blame each other for this coupon going away. It was a great deal and lasted a long time. 99% of the people that got it and used it, probably were never intended to have it, so if you used one even once, just be thankful that you got a good deal.

Except for the part about the "rewording it to work with any purchase"... I have no reason to believe Target didn't get altered coupons in, and decided to shut the whole shebang down. There's no real need to scapegoat... They could've just said the coupon is being reprinted online, and left it at that, and voided all future coupons...

So, yeah I do believe some were altering the words on it to suit them. I used the coupon extensively, and sometimes I tried to eek over the $25 mark to use it by getting a candy bar, and I got denied... I had to get something more pricey. Case in point, I got an Indy truck at Target and I picked up a FOV figure... That didn't come to $25 before tax, and so I tried to pick up a candy bar, and the girl said it had to be a toy purchase... So people did get denied that. So likewise I can see people tampering with the coupon in photoshop (why not?) to get around that... I could see people who didn't give a **** about toys doing that actually, right from the get-go. I can also see the "altered" coupons being what really ultimately alerted them to what was going on in the first place.

I agree on the first point at least though... There wasn't anything random to this coupon till it got leaked out by whoever first saved and distributed it.

It was fun while it lasted... That's my stance on it. I'm not irked, but I do believe people tampering with it ultimately brought it into the limelight. I don't see a reason for Target to fib on that, and part of me thinks they were letting it slide for a while.

If target wanted to do a promos like this here is what they should have did instead of doing this internet/email thing which is just like low hangen fruit for people that would take advantage of something like this. They should have radomley picked stores throught the chain and have someone at the door handing out coupons like this, kind of like they do at Disneyland with their "dream teams" that hand out goodies at the theme parks.

We stopped by Super Target this weekend, and they had basically all Star Wars stuff on clearance. Funny enough, the pegwarmers they had on clearance consisted of Sandtroopers, Biker Scouts, and ROTS Clonetroopers. Although we've seen that more and more lately, who would have thought that a couple of years ago? Anyways, I ended up grabbing a white pauldron Sandtrooper and Biker Scout for $4.64 each.

We stopped by Super Target this weekend, and they had basically all Star Wars stuff on clearance. Funny enough, the pegwarmers they had on clearance consisted of Sandtroopers, Biker Scouts, and ROTS Clonetroopers.

We've been out of army builders at Targets in MN for months now - mainly due to a major flaw at one of our stores.

On the other hand - WM's are usually swimming in Clones, Stormies, and BikerScouts.

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Yeah, actually the Super Target in town is the only Target that still had those figures. The store closest to us (non-"Super") has had only Elis Herlot for quite some time now. Wal-Mart still has lots of Biker Scouts and ROTS Clones last time I checked though, at full price. I wonder what will happen to those when the 26th launch date gets here.

If target wanted to do a promos like this here is what they should have did instead of doing this internet/email thing which is just like low hangen fruit for people that would take advantage of something like this. They should have radomley picked stores throught the chain and have someone at the door handing out coupons like this, kind of like they do at Disneyland with their "dream teams" that hand out goodies at the theme parks.

Umm...not a great idea? What would stop someone from just keeping the coupon, scanning it, and putting it up on the internet for everyone else to use just like this one?

If target wanted to do a promos like this here is what they should have did instead of doing this internet/email thing which is just like low hangen fruit for people that would take advantage of something like this. They should have radomley picked stores throught the chain and have someone at the door handing out coupons like this, kind of like they do at Disneyland with their "dream teams" that hand out goodies at the theme parks.

Umm...not a great idea? What would stop someone from just keeping the coupon, scanning it, and putting it up on the internet for everyone else to use just like this one?

So target has basically cleared out it's shelves around my neck of the woods, but the Walmarts & the 1 TRU around me still has plenty of stock left over, I'd have thought that by now both of these stores would've cleared shelves by now to make room for the new product coming out. This is way more then a new wave coming out or even whole new packaging, this is for a new movie and the animation stuff is basically a whole new line in itself. I just don't understand how these stores are going to stock up and have the room.

Well that's my neck of the woods how's it around everyone else?

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The same. Target is all set for the new stuff while TRU still has lots of 30AV figs. Can't say about WM for sure since I haven't been in one for months, but I'm told it's the same as TRU except with clearanced figures at regular price.